Did Congress want Army to take Rahul Gandhi along for surgical strikes, asks Parrikar

New Delhi: Slamming the opposition for negativity, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Monday accused the Congress of spreading misinformation against him and the Bharatiya Janata Party. He questioned if the Congress would have believed in the surgical strikes if the Army had included its president Rahul Gandhi along with them in their mission.

"I am not speaking about the surgical strikes in a political manner. What do the opposition parties claim? That they (strikes) were not carried out. Look at the negativity. Should I have taken you (opposition) along? I should have told the army to take Rahul Gandhi along and carry out the surgical strikes?" Parrikar said.

Parrikar's statement came while he was addressing his party workers for the first time since his return from the US last month after medical treatment. Also, Parrikar launched an attack on the grand old party over rising NPAs, Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya.

The former defence minister also ridiculed the Congress for questioning the veracity of the surgical strike conducted by the Army in the PoK in 2016.

"The most important thing about surgical strikes is the secrecy. Only four of us knew. The Prime Minister, me, Army chief and the Director General of Military Operations. Four of us in Delhi and core commander and army commander in Srinagar and those who executed it. 

"We had to prepare for it early on because these things can`t be done on the spot," the former Defence Minister said, urging the party workers to reach out to the people and create a positive atmosphere.

Parrikar was the Defence Minister when the two surgical strikes were conducted by the Indian armed forces on the country's eastern and western fronts. The Army had reported on September 29, 2016, eleven days after the Uri attack that claimed 18 jawans, that it had conducted surgical strikes against suspected militant launch pads in the Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir.

(With inputs from agencies)